1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to means for making repeatable connections on optical fiber cables, and, in particular, to guide capsules for optical fiber connectors. Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide new and improved devices of such character.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several connectors for optical fibers have been proposed in the prior art, and some of these have been demonstrated to give losses in the 0.5-2 dB range.
The prior art connectors generally suffer from one or more of the following disadvantages:
(a) There is no simple, breakage-free way to rearrange the optical fibers from their positions in a circular array at the end of a cable to their positioning in the usually linear array in alignment channels.
(b) There is no assurance of coplanarity of the fiber end faces.
(c) The separation between mating fiber ends is uncontrollable.
(d) The optical fibers must be encapsulated in ribbons within the cable for proper orientation in the connector, whereas many cables are not made in this fashion, e.g., the circular array of optical fibers in an available commercial cable.
(e) A time-consuming field step of grinding and polishing is required for connector end preparation.
(f) The connector halves are for single fibers, though they can be ganged to connect a limited amount of fibers in a multi-fiber cable.
(g) A precision fixture is used to control the longitudinal positioning of each fiber, and thus the spacing between the ends of mating fibers, thus being time-consuming and unwieldy when more than one fiber is involved in a cable.
(h) Difficulties in getting fibers to lay down at the bottom of V-grooves.
(i) The connector is not suitable for reuse.
(j) The connector is not suitable for more than a few rematings.
(k) The connectors require that a fiber jacket be coated on, and in intimate contact with, the fiber, and be accurately controlled in circularity and thickness, in order to assist the insertion of the fiber into the connector.